Spending Diet

For someone who is frugal, I have a serious spending problem. Because I can, I've gotten into the habit of buying things I want, when I want. Notice that need was no where in that sentence. At work, we're no longer allowed on Facebook, so SteepandCheap.com has become my most visited website. (Amazing deals by the way.) It's gotten so out of hand, that the guys I sit with at work regularly ask what I bought online and how much I saved. As much as I love shopping math, math where you add up what you saved and not what you spent, I need to curb my unintentional contributions to keep the economy from collapsing.

Realistically, my spending is not that much out of control. My impulse buys are less than $100 at a time and I'm no where near going into debt over this issue, but it’s been bothering me. Case in point, I've been on the lookout for a pair of nice polarized sunglasses. SteepandCheep had some the other day with interchangeable lenses made for small faces. At 80% off, they were a steal so I grabbed them. Twenty-four hours later I found myself purchasing another pair because I thought they were cuter. Once they arrive, I’ll need to return at least one pair. Unless they’re both just awesome. Sigh.

When I first started working, I was making very little money and brought my lunch to work 99% of the time. After a few promotions and pay increases and I find myself eating out simply out of laziness or because I don’t feel like eating what I brought for lunch. While this isn’t breaking my bank, I can’t help but feeling like there are better things to spend my money on. And things to spend on that don’t make my pants snug.

After a recent flight, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a pair of Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. They sell for $200-300. Initially I was just going to put them on my credit card and then transfer the money from my saving account over. But then I stopped to think, what ever happened to saving up for a purchase before you bought it? When did I stop wanting something bad enough to save for it ahead of time? There is something to be said for the satisfaction felt when you purchase something you know you saved up for it ahead of time.

Somehow the universe seemed to have heard my random wandering of thoughts and this morning I saw an article on families who went on a 30 day spending diet. Obviously I was intrigued. There are two main ways to do this: 1) set a budget for the month and stick to it or 2) cut out all luxuries. Since I do not believe in traditional budgeting and therefore don’t do it, this was clearly not for me. But luxuries . . . luxuries I believe in.

So rather like an impulse purchase, I have impulsively decided to attempt a 30 day spending diet. The goal being to cut out enough luxuries to save for my Bose headphones. I must save $300 before October 22 in order to purchase them in time for my next flight. That's saving $10 per day. Intimidating, but doable considering I spent $9 on a sandwitch for lunch yesterday.

Wish me luck. Spending control and Bose headphones, here I come.